More than three years after a family of four from India froze to death trying to enter the United States through Canada during a blizzard, the ringleader behind the international human smuggling operation was sentenced for his role in the conspiracy.
Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, was sentenced in Minnesota on Wednesday to 10 years and one month in prison. Patel, an Indian national known as “Dirty Harry,” will be returned to his home country after his sentence.
The co-conspirator and driver, Steve Anthony Shand, 50, of Florida, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison, as well as two years of supervised release.
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A federal jury convicted both men in November 2024 of “conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy, conspiracy to transport aliens within the United States causing serious bodily injury and placing lives in jeopardy, attempted transportation of aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain, and aiding and abetting the attempted transportation of aliens.”
“Patel and Shand endangered thousands of lives for their personal enrichment and are responsible for the deaths of two small children who froze to death on their watch,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.
“This case demonstrates the grave danger associated with human smuggling operations. I thank the prosecutors and our law enforcement partners in the U.S. and in Canada who are working to secure the northern border and end the perilous smuggling of aliens into the United States,” Galeotti continued.
Prosecutors said during the trial that Patel and Shand were part of an illegal operation that brought Indian nationals to Canada on fraudulent student visas and then smuggled them across the U.S. border. Both men received money for their part in the human smuggling operation, with prosecutors noting that being smuggled from India through Canada into the U.S. can be as much as $100,000.
Despite repeated warnings, the pair arranged to smuggle 11 illegal aliens on foot from Canada into the U.S. in January 2022. The group of immigrants included a family of four, which consisted of two adults and their children — an 11-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son.
“On the evening of January 18, Shand sent Patel a screenshot with a blizzard alert warning of wind gusts as high as 50 mph and wind chill temperatures below -45 degrees. The recorded wind chill temperature on the morning of Jan. 19 was -36 degrees,” the DOJ reported in its statement.
The family of four froze to death during the smuggling operation. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police found their bodies in an “isolated area” on the Canadian side of the border on Jan. 19, 2022. In the early morning hours on the same day, a U.S. Border Patrol agent found Shand’s van stuck in the snow, arresting him and two illegal immigrants.
“Every time I think about this case I think about this family — including two beautiful little children — who the defendants left to freeze to death in a blizzard,” Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick for the District of Minnesota stated.
“As we’ve seen time and time again, human traffickers care nothing for humanity,” she added. “I am proud of the work of our law enforcement partners in holding these defendants accountable for their unspeakable crimes.”
Prosecutor Michael McBride stated that the father, Jagdish Patel, died while trying to shield his toddler son’s face from the “blistering wind” with a frozen glove, CBS News reports. His wife, Vihangi, “died slumped against a chain-link fence she must have thought salvation lay behind,” according to McBride.
Seven migrants the smugglers tried to sneak into the country survived the journey. One of the survivors was flown to the hospital with severe frostbite and hypothermia.
Prosecutors wanted a sentence of nearly 20 years for the ringleader of the human smuggling operation, whom McBride accused of not showing any remorse.
“Even today, he continues to deny he is the ‘Dirty Harry’ that worked with Mr. Shand on this smuggling venture — despite substantial evidence to the contrary and counsel for his co-defendant identifying him as such at trial,” McBride claimed.
Defense attorneys for the leader of the human smuggling operation argued that the evidence against Patel was insufficient, as CBS News reported. Shand’s attorney, federal defender Aaron Morrison, argued that the driver was on the “outside of the conspiracy” and that he had a limited role in it.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
